SIO recruits a top climate scientist

UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography has recruited a renowned climate researcher to be the first holder of the Roger Revelle Chair, a post named after one of the scientists who pioneered the study of global warming.

Shang-Ping Xie has decided to leave the University of Hawaii, where he has served as co-leader of the International Pacific Research Center & Department of Meteorology. He also is the editor of Journal of Climate. He specializes in studying how the atmosphere and ocean interact, and the nature of El Nino.

Xie said in a statement , “I hope to develop new science filling the gap between global-mean temperature rise and regional rainfall change, say in California. Our recent work shows that atmospheric convection change is sensitive to the spatial unevenness in ocean warming

“To the extent that tropical convection drives important changes in climate around the globe, this result puts the ocean and its interaction with the atmosphere on the center stage of regional climate change research. Dynamics of regional climate change is a new line of research. Like any new developing science, there is a lot we need to figure out.”